


Anything for Henry

by Witchgirl1234



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-05-18 22:34:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5945818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witchgirl1234/pseuds/Witchgirl1234
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry cannot accept Emma and Regina's relationship and demands that it ends. When Emma can't handle the heartbreak, Regina takes drastic measures to make sure she can be happy without her. But can she stand watching the saviour be happy with another? [Emma x Regina pairing, some Emma x Elsa but SQ is endgame]  <br/>Originally posted on ff.net under the name withgirl</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N Hey guys, I got inspiration for this from 'If They Can't Have Each Other They Will Never Be Happy' by edean13 and I urge you to check it out XD  
> Just to avoid confusion I should probably say now that this is set about six months after Emma and Mary Margaret came back from the EF and Cora never showed up in Storybrooke.  
> Also need to thank my lovely beta, QueenApples XD

Chapter one

Henry paced frantically in front of the couch as both of his grandparents looked on waiting for him to finally voice the issue.

"You know that you have to be up for school tomorrow?" Snow said by way of breaking the silence.

The brunette boy finally stopped pacing and turned to look at his grandmother, "I won't be able to sleep!"

"Henry…they've been out about seventeen times," Charming said, though the younger boy noted the slight crack in his voice and his inability to admit who 'they' were.

"You cannot seriously be alright with this!" Henry said exasperatedly, mostly because he was ridiculously tired.

David and Snow exchanged a look and they each sighed at the same time, knowing that they wouldn't be able to hide their feelings even if they tired.

"Emma knows how we feel, Henry," Snow replied, "but she is a grown woman, we cannot tell her who she can and can't be with."

"But…she's the Evil Queen, you have to stop it before something bad happens to her. You can't let the saviour be corrupted!" he cried.

David bit his lip and tried to think of what he could say to convince him that there was nothing either of them could do. Granted, it wasn't through lack of trying, Emma had basically told them that they didn't have to accept Regina as her girlfriend, but that if they asked her to choose, she already knew what her choice would be.

"…We'll all get used to it eventually, don't you want your mothers together?" David tried.

Henry clenched his jaw and shook his head, "Regina is not my mom, but she is going to do something to ruin my real mom's life."

Snow closed her eyes in frustration and looked at her husband, silently asking for ideas of something to say, but it soon became clear that he was in the same position as her. Neither of them liked the idea of Regina and Emma sharing a son, it only made the future of their relationship more plausible.

"There isn't anything we can do, we just have to wait for their relationship to run its course," she said, sounding almost hopeful. "And you should already be in bed…"

Before she could finish her attempt at parenting her grandson, the front door opened to reveal a very happy looking blonde.

Emma closed the door behind her and smiled contently at each person in the room.

"What are you still doing up, kid?" she asked, no edge to her voice, all of her muscles were completely relaxed. After her latest date with the deceptively kind mayor, she couldn't feel anything but complete happiness.

"I need to talk to you!" Henry announced, running forward and looking her over intently.

The blonde looked down at her body, clearly confused as to what he was doing, and she finally asked, "what are you looking for?"

"I need to figure out whaat she did to you," he mumbled.

Emma's expression instantly fell and she brought her hands up to rest on his shoulders, "she took me for Italian food and then walked me home."

"So why isn't she here?" the boy asked sceptically, shooting a cautious look towards the door.

The sheriff sighed heavily and allowed her arms to fall back to her side before she replied, "because she doesn't exactly feel welcome here."

"And whose fault is that?" Henry shot back.

"How about the people who refuse to accept that she has changed?!"

"How can you be so sure?" the pre-teen asked, "this could all just be some big plan to hurt you or your parents."

"I know for a fact that isn't what our relationship is!" Emma shouted, feeling all of her muscles tense up, her night of bliss completely ruined by having to return home.

"Because I love her!"

Silence fell over the apartment and David and Snow rose simultaneously from the couch, shock mixed with anger consuming each of their faces, "you…love her?" Snow choked out.

Emma looked over at her mother's face, her gut wrenched when she saw the disapproval written so clearly across her face, but it was only made worse by the look of disgust on Henry's.

"But...you can't," he said weakly, "you're the saviour and she's the Evil Queen."

"Was," the sheriff snapped, "she was the Evil Queen, and what does that have to do with this?"

"The saviour is supposed to end up with a prince…" at his mother's narrowed eyes, he quickly held up his hands and added, "or princess. You deserve a happy ending and it can't possibly be with her. Villains don't get happy endings!"

Emma looked helplessly at her parents, before she realised that they would obviously agree with their grandson. There was no arguing with Henry, no matter what, he would always think he was right so long as he had the approval of almost every adult in Storybrooke, it certainly didn't help that he was right about the curse against all odds. The curse breaking had obviously given the boy a false sense of right and wrong, without the grey area that he would need to get by in life, and it was really beginning to piss Emma off.

Throwing her arm out, she said through clenched teeth, "go to bed."

Henry narrowed his eyes and looked as if he was about to add more to his argument, before he just stamped his foot and stormed off up the stairs, already planning a new operation to set everything right.

Snow and David each turned their head to watch the boy go, before they turned back to look at their daughter with very judgemental looks on their faces.

"Don't," Emma grumbled, going off to the kitchen in search of any alcohol, "the perfect night is already ruined."

S

Regina ran a hand across her face and continued to type away at her laptop.

By some miracle, that she was sure involved her girlfriend, she had been allowed to keep her position as mayor. She also imagined that it had something to do with the fact that none of the so-called 'heroes' would possibly be able to waste their precious time on bureaucratic nonsense.

Despite this, she still smiled slightly to herself at the thought of one of the heroes in particular.

No one was more surprised when Emma announced her feelings, but the saviour was probably just as shocked when they were returned. Against her better judgement, she had decided to throw caution to the wind and allow the blonde to take her on a date, which had included a picnic and horseback riding. The supposed fearless saviour had been utterly terrified while they were on the horses, but Regina found it adorable.

From then, their relationship had grown and they had just celebrated their three month anniversary the day before.

Though she had thought that something would have happened to break them apart by now, she could hardly deny that she was happy with the turn of events, even if she was completely lonely when the other woman was unavailable. She missed Henry with all of her heart and Emma had offered to force him to spend time with her, but she had refused. The former Evil Queen could understand finding a parent completely abhorrent and she would certainly hate anyone who tried to force her to spend time with Cora.

A soft, tentative knock at the door brought Regina out of her thoughts and she brought her eyes to the clock, determining that her assistant was on her lunch break, she sat up slightly, trying to make herself look professional and she called, "come in."

The door opened to reveal a small brunette clutching the straps of his backpack close to his body, he refused to make eye contact with the woman who raised him as he made his way closer to her desk. He wasn't sure what exactly he was going to say, but he knew that he had to say something.

"Henry…" Regina said uncertainly, her mayoral posture instantly fell away to be replaced with what Emma had coined 'momma bear mode'. Apparently, whenever she was in the presence of their son, particularly when he looked as troubled as he did now, she adopted a deeply maternal look, which was one of the reasons that the blonde had begun liking her so much in the first place.

He took a deep breath and finally looked up at the brown orbs desperately trying to discern what was wrong, "I didn't skip school, I have a free period."

"I know your timetable," the mayor said with a small, sad smile, "…not that I don't want to see you, but why are you here."

Henry swallowed hard and decided that the direct approach would be the best option here and said, "what did you do to her?"

Regina's eyebrows rose, her expression a mix between confusion and hurt as she closed the lid on her laptop, so as to give the boy her full attention.

"To who?" she asked, even though she had a feeling that she already knew what he was talking about.

"Emma, she said she loves you so obviously you did something to her!" he shouted, finally allowing his emotions to burst forward.

The brunette woman stared at him for a moment, not quite processing his words. She opened her mouth to reply, but her eyes quickly widened and she clutched the edge of the desk, "she…loves me?"

Henry waved his hand dismissively, not even registering how sad the look of surprise on his mother's face should have been, he didn't realise just how little love she expected.

"That's not important, because obviously you ripped her heart out, where is it?!"

Regina bit lip to stop her chin from wobbling and she blinked away a few tears, after a moment under her son's expectant gaze, she just about managed to reply, "what?"

"The only explanation for the saviour loving the Evil Queen is that you did something to her, you probably ripped out her heart so that you can make everyone miserable. Emma is so obviously supposed to be with someone else!"

The mayor let out a ragged breath and clutched the edge of her desk harder, "I haven't done anything to her Henry, I would never hurt her."

"But you would hurt Snow and David which would hurt Emma and me. Face it, you're not good enough for her," he yelled.

Regina finally allowed tears to fall down her face as the boy achieved in pointing out every insecurity she thought about while she was alone. Did the saviour not deserve someone better than the woman who had spent a decade terrorising an entire realm? Emma was destined to bring back the happy endings, but did that include villains? Should the woman who had taken away so much happiness be allowed be so blissfully happy with her girlfriend while there were so many families missing members because of her?

"That doesn't mean that I took her heart Henry," she replied in a slightly hoarse voice, trying to covertly wipe away the tears on her cheek, not that the brunette seemed to notice them anyway.

"Prove it then!"

"How?" Regina asked weakly, she knew that she would probably be doing whatever came out of his mouth next and she was silently praying that it wasn't what he thought it was.

"Leave her alone, break up with her and give her the chance to find her happy ending. She will be so much happier without you," he said lowly, trying to push aside the slight pang of guilt that erupted in his stomach. He stared at her expectantly, repeating over and over in his mind that she didn't deserve the saviour, the blonde woman had the right to find her True Love away from her current delusions.

Regina closed her eyes and briefly imagined a world in which she refused his request, but she knew that it wouldn't be this word. She would do anything for Henry and Emma. With her doubts magnified, she swallowed hard and nodded.

"Fine," she mumbled, not bothering to try and change his mind, she could just feel that it would just create a greater rift between the two of them, if that were even possible.

Henry's eyebrows rose in surprise and for a split second he considered that she had indeed changed, but his mind just kept reminding him of all she had done in the past and he just nodded and turned on his heels.

He didn't even turn back to offer any kind of goodbye and he certainly didn't notice as Regina's head fell into her hand, silent tears falling as she began to plan the only good thing she currently had in her life.

S

Emma bit her lip, worrying at the skin as she waited at her girlfriend's front door.

The 'we need to talk' text was not something she had been happy to get and she had instantly rushed over to the mansion without once stopping to question whether the mayor had sent the text from home. Knocking again, she began to rock on her heels out of anticipation, beginning to hope that this was just a case of having to teach Regina what certain phrases meant.

After a third round of knocking, the door was finally yanked open and the owner of the house silently stood aside to allow the taller woman access.

As she passed, Emma inspected the expression of Regina's face, but she quickly realised that she was currently wearing her patented Mayor Mills look. The indifference was never a good sign and it was a look that she had gotten used to seeing fall away once they were alone.

"You do know what 'we need to talk' means here, right?" Emma laughed nervously watching as Regina closed the door.

Regina clutched the door knob tightly, still facing away from the blonde, she scrunched her eyes up to stop the tears that would certainly be falling later, and finally she released the door and turned to face the other woman, "I'm well aware what it means, Miss Swan."

Emma's eyes widened and she began to shake her head, "Miss Swan? Regina, you haven't called me that since we started going out…"

"Which is precisely why I think that it is an apt way to address you, I think that we should return to a purely professional relationship."

The blonde shook her head, clenching her fists, she asked, "did Henry talk to you?"

"He seems to be under the impression that the only reason that you love me is because I took your heart."

Emma's mouth fell open, she had yet to listen to the second part and she replied, "he told you?! That little…"

"Emma!" Regina shouted before the other woman could finish her sentence.

The saviour's shoulders slumped and she sighed heavily, "did it freak you out?"

"That's…irrelevant," the brunette replied with a shaky breath.

Emma shook her head and began walking towards Regina, quickly backing her up against the front door, with the close proximity, she whispered, "it's not irrelevant, I love you and I won't let this relationship end."

"I…don't love you," Regina tried, suppressing a slight moan as the blonde let out light breaths on her neck, exactly where she knew her pulse point to be, she just about managed to resist the urge to circle her arms around the other woman's neck.

"I don't believe you," the saviour whispered against her lips before she closed the gap and pressed their lips together.

Regina quickly melted into the kiss and leaned against the door.

'Emma is obviously supposed to be with someone else!'

'She deserves better.'

'She will be so much happier without you.'

With her son's angry words flowing through her mind, she brought her hands up and lightly pushed the blonde away.

"We can't do this," she said with a crack in her voice, her resolve almost breaking at the look that crossed her love's face. "I can't do anything that would make Henry unhappy."

"And what about me, Regina? He may be unhappy, but I will be completely miserable without you!" Emma shouted, finally removing herself from the mayor's personal space.

"You…deserve better," the brunette said, refusing to make eye contact.

"Is that what he told you?" the blonde asked incredulously.

Regina sighed and nodded, "he asked me to break up with you, so I have to do it. I'm so sorry Emma. But you'll find someone else, there are many suitors in this town…"

"But only one person that I already love with all of my heart," she replied, almost begging, "I love you, Regina…isn't Henry supposed to believe in that? He believes that love is the most powerful magic of all, right?"

"Powerful magic to be used against villains," Regina whispered, "villains shouldn't get happy ending."

"That is bullshit and you know it!"

The brunette nodded, tears welling up in her eyes as she turned and opened the door, "you should go…"

"I am not giving up on you!" Emma said, trying to reach out to place her hand on the shorter woman's arm, but she quickly moved back out of her reach.

"I am asking you to do that, please Emma, make this as easy as possible."

"I…I don't think I can…" the saviour said as she finally stopped trying to stop the tears.

Regina had the urge to reach forward and wipe the tears away, but instead she just looked away and said, "please move on, it's the only way to ensure Henry's happy ending."

With that, she waved her hand and the saviour was enveloped in a cloud of purple smoke.

Emma blinked and looked around the familiar apartment a couple times, with tears obscuring her vision, she took a second to realise exactly where she was.

Her eyes finally landed on the couch where her mother was looking at her slightly shocked, the papers she was grading having fell from her hand.

The blonde shot another look around the otherwise empty apartment before she looked back to Snow and said, "where the hell is Henry?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Snow jumped up from the couch and held up her hands to placate her daughter, "he's at a sleep-over, what happened?"

Emma took a few deep breaths, before she finally felt like her legs could no longer hold her weight and she fell onto the coffee table, throwing her head into her hands.

"Henry asked Regina to break up with me," she replied through her sobs.

Snow's eyebrows shot up and she quickly sat next to the other woman, bringing her arm around her. As much as she had hoped for this to have happened, she couldn't deny that it physically hurt to see her daughter so hurt. She also couldn't quite believe that Henry would do something like that. She winced slightly as she felt the other woman tense at her touch and she briefly wondered whether she would be this adverse to a hug from Regina.

"And she did it?" she asked rather pathetically, but it was the only thing that she could think to say.

"Of course she fucking did it, Henry asked her to," the blonde sniffled, minutely shifting away from her mother.

"Well…if Henry isn't comfortable with the relationship, it doesn't seem fair to continue it," the brunette said softly, suddenly, Emma shot off the coffee table and her mother's arm fell away.

"Why can't people just mind their own business!" she shouted before she stormed upstairs.

Snow let out a heavy sigh, and was about to go after her before she realised that she had no idea what to say. Her physical presence didn't seem to help the blonde as much as she hoped it one day would and she had no experience with being dumped. Taking a seat back on the couch, she piled the papers together and decided to abandon them as she began to formulate what she could say.

After ten minutes, she hadn't thought of anything, but she couldn't take it anymore and basically ran over to the kitchen to make cocoa.

Within five minutes, she was up the stairs, lightly knocking at Emma's door.

"Emma, sweetheart," she said softly.

Her reply came as a muffled, "go away, Mary Margaret."

Slumping her shoulders, she thought back to the parenting books she had read after the curse had broken, something she sincerely hoped that her full grown daughter never found out.

One in particular said that they should always know that you're there for them, so she ignored the blonde's request and opened the door.

"I made you cocoa," she said as she approached the bed.

Sitting on the edge of it, she looked over the lump under the blanket that was Emma Swan, the slight movement the only sign that she was crying into her pillow.

"I don't want cocoa," the blonde replied, her voice hoarse from her crying.

Snow sighed and placed the mug on the bed side table, before she placed a hand on the other woman's leg, "it's going to be okay…"

Emma clenched one of her fists and used her other hand to throw the blanket off of herself, looking straight at her mother with her tear stained face.

"You only think that because this is exactly what you wanted to happen," she growled, "you was so angry that I was going out with 'the Evil Queen' that you didn't stop to notice how happy I was. I freaking love her and all you people can focus on is who she used to be!"

The brunette's mouth fell open and she desperately tried to think of something to say. She suddenly felt intense guilt as she realised that she and David had only been enforcing Henry's behaviour. She had basically been hoping that her daughter would be heartbroken. But that didn't change the intense feeling that their relationship was wrong, she had convinced herself that her child deserved better than Regina, and that was not something that she could so easily give up on.

"You just need time to get over it, sweetheart, you can move onto to someone better…"

"Get out!" Emma shouted.

"Emma…"

"Get the fuck out of my room, Mary Margaret!"

The brunette's mouth fell opened and she just stared at her utterly enraged daughter, who threw her arm out and pointed to the door.

Blinking away tears, Snow offered a quick nod and scurried out of the room, just about catching her child throwing herself back onto the pillow, her sobs physically wracking her body.

S

Snow paced back and forth on Regina's porch, her hands balled tightly into fists.

All she could think was how dare that woman make her little girl cry like that, she imagined that punching the Evil Queen would be quite cathartic after all these years and she was determined to do it.

Turning to the door, she knocked violently again, she was tempted to shout but she knew that her former step mother would not be particularly convinced to come to the door if she heard her voice.

Finally, the door was yanked open, the owner of the house not even bothering to look at who was at the door, clearly assuming that there was only one person who would try and visit her.

"Emma…" she sighed before she looked up and her eyebrows shot up, clearing her throat, she tried to make herself look less pathetic but it was too late.

It was immediately noticeable that the mayor had been crying just as much, if not more than Emma had been. Her hair was dishevelled and she had her arms wrapped around her stomach, almost as if she were trying to physically protect herself from heartbreak.

As soon as she saw the princess, however, she drew herself up higher and removed her hands from her stomach.

After a moment, though, she just let out a resigned sigh and leaned against the doorframe, "what do you want, Snow?"

The other brunette unclenched her fists and for a second she forgot why she was there. The revelation that Regina actually cared deeply about her daughter was running through her mind at a mile a minute and she swallowed hard when she realised that she was about to have the door slammed in her face.

"Why would you break up with Emma?"

Regina sighed deeply and shook her head, "I thought you of all people would be happy about this."

"You thought that I would be happy about my daughter sobbing in her bed?" Snow asked incredulously.

Guilt passed over the mayor's face at the thought of her love being in the same gut wrenching pain that she was currently in, but she knew that it would hurt so much more if the blonde was unfazed by their break-up.

"She'll get over it."

Snow narrowed her eyes at the lack of conviction and said, "will you get over it?"

"Do you care?" Regina sneered, "isn't the only important thing Emma being happy?"

"I…"

"You can't have it both ways Snow!" the brunette continued before the other woman could finish her sentence, "you can't want us apart and then become enraged when I end it. She just needs time to realise that she can find someone better."

Snow made no attempt to argue with the self-deprecation and instead said, "well until then, she's going to shun her family. It would be easier if she just forgot all about you."

Regina didn't even bother to disagree and just mumbled, "just leave me alone, Snow."

She did even try and slam the door as she just trudged back off to bed, and as the door lightly clicked into place, Snow felt intense guilt wash over her.

S

Charming furrowed his brow and watched as Snow stared at the blank TV screen.

"You know that it's more entertaining if you turn it on," he laughed, throwing his keys onto the coffee table.

"I'm thinking," she mumbled as she bit her lip.

"About?"

"Emma went to stay with Ruby," Snow sighed, finally looking up at her husband, "she hates me…"

"She just needs time to move past it, Snow," he replied, falling onto the coffee table while also placing his hand on her arm.

"She's really angry, David," the brunette sniffled, "she wouldn't even look at me when she left."

David's shoulders slumped, he understood why Snow was taking the rejection so hard. Considering all they did to ensure Emma's goodness, it was probably difficult to accept that the blonde would so easily choose the Evil Queen over them.

"She loves Regina, Snow," he insisted, "would you be able to look at anyone who had a part in tearing us apart?"

"Emma and Regina are nothing like us," she spat, "it's just Regina trying to make us miserable because she didn't have the curse anymore."

"If that were true, then why would she have broken up with Emma at Henry's request?"

"Because…" Snow trailed off, desperately trying to think of a reason. But all that came to mind was the broken look that Regina had been wearing when she had opened the door. She was having a hard time associated that Regina with the Evil Queen who had cast the curse to take away her happy ending. Finally, however, a reason came to mind and she decided that it would have to be good enough, even if it didn't make complete sense, "she won Emma's heart and the broke it so that could ruin her relationship with us."

"That's ridiculous," Charming scoffed.

"Do you want them together?" the brunette asked incredulously.

David rolled his eyes and squeezed hand, "of course not, but maybe telling her that she deserves better right after they broke up probably wasn't the best plan. We just need to give her space to come to terms with what happened and then she will come back to us."

Snow bit her lip and looked down at her lap, "I went to see Regina last night…"

The blond man let out a sigh and said, "what did you do?"

"I planned to do something to her, I'm not sure exactly what, but she looked just as heartbroken as Emma does. What if they're…actually supposed to be together? What if they're true loves?"

"You and I both know that Regina will do anything for Henry, so as long as he is against the relationship, it doesn't matter," David said softly. "Emma will move on eventually and everyone will be happy."

"Except Regina," Snow mumbled.

David looked at her in shock, and the princess just held up her hand, "she doesn't deserve to be happy after everything she did and she certainly doesn't deserve our daughter."

"Are you sure about that?"

With a heavy sigh, Snow shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know anymore, David. I thought that Emma would grow up in the Enchanted Forest, marry a prince and be perfectly happy. Instead, she grew up alone, had a child at eighteen and fell in love with Regina. This isn't how it was supposed to go and it's all her fault and yet Emma still wants to be with her…"

David nodded, telling her that he completely understood.

The pair fell into silence, thinking that all they could do now was wait for their daughter to come home.

S

-One week later-

"You should go and talk to her," Ruby suggested as she poured more coffee into the saviour's mug.

Emma lifted her head up from its position on her arms and said, "I texted her the day after she ended it, she said that if I love her then I'll respect her wishes. And her current wishes are a 'strictly professional relationship.'"

"And you're going to listen to her?" the wolf asked with a shocked expression, "that's not very charming of you, Swan."

"What do you expect me to do? Force her to be my girlfriend?" Emma snapped.

The waitress held up her hands by way of surrender and said, "maybe if Henry realised he's being a little jackass then everyone can be happy."

"The problem with your plan is that Henry is pretty stubborn, ironically, he got it from Regina," the blonde sighed, throwing her head back into her arms.

Ruby hummed in agreement and then said, "you know, not that I don't enjoy you sleeping on my couch, but you can't avoid your son and parents forever."

Emma mumbled something about 'eventually' and the wolf rolled her eyes, as the bell rang out over the door.

Emma pulled her chin up onto her arms and looked over at her parents walking in with Henry and she just turned away and looked back at the waitress.

"Emma…" Ruby said warningly.

"How would you feel if you had to break up with Belle because of Granny?" the saviour shot back.

"That would be completely different."

"Why?"

"Because we don't have son," Ruby laughed, "you've waited your whole life to find your parents…"

"I've also waited my whole life to find someone I love, why can't I have both," she sighed.

The brunette placed a comforting hand on her friend's arm and then squeezed it in warning, "incoming, Snow is coming over here."

Emma sighed deeply and after a second, she pushed her head off the counter and looked at the school teacher.

Snow stood next to the counter awkwardly and smiled at her daughter, "Emma…" she said, obviously unsure of what to say, but she knew that she wanted to talk to her child after a week of silence.

"I'm not in the mood, Mary Margaret."

The brunette's shoulders slumped and she looked at Ruby for support, but she didn't get any. Since the curse broke, it became clear that her best friend was more comfortable around Emma, probably because she was one of the few people who were for her relationship with Regina.

"I just want to make sure you're okay…" Snow said weakly, briefly looking over at her husband and grandson over in their booth, impatiently waiting to hear how the conversation went.

"Physically or emotionally?"

With a heaving sigh, the school teacher said, "you have to talk to us eventually."

"Why?" Emma asked harshly.

"Because…I'm your mother," she replied weakly.

"I don't care," the saviour shot back, turning to pick up her drink.

Snow let out a ragged breath and she finally got the sympathetic look that she wanted from Ruby, not that it was very helpful as she felt her heart beginning to crumble.

With a small nod, she just hung her head in shame as she walked over to the booth.

"Little harsh, Swan," Ruby said after a moment of silence.

"She said that I can find someone better after I had my heart torn to pieces, would you want to talk to her?"

"Snow can be a moron, but she's still your mom…"

Emma just shrugged and brought the coffee up to her lips.

Ruby sighed and grabbed started wiping the counter, watching as another waitress went over to serve the other Charmings.

The bell rang out again and Emma turned briefly and then quickly did a double take when she saw the brunette that she hadn't seen since that heart wrenching night.

Swallowing hard, she looked over at the booth to see that her family had similar expressions as Regina walked over to the counter.

Emma turned back to Ruby a pleading look and she just shook her head telling her that she didn't know what to do either.

"Coffee, madam mayor?" the waitress asked as soon as she got to the counter.

"Please," Regina replied and the other brunette walked off to make it.

Emma bit her lip and stared intently at her own beverage, before she looked over at her ex and said, "hi."

Regina a deep breath, desperately resisting the urge to just tell her that she wanted her back and she replied, "hello, Miss Swan."

The blonde's shoulders slumped and the mayor felt instantly guilty at the shimmering of tears shinning in her love's eyes.

Ruby walked back over and placed the to-go cup on the counter and it was soon replaced with money.

Regina looked like she was about to say something else to the sheriff, but she seemed to think better of it and just nodded her thanks to the waitress and made her way out of the diner.

"Well that looked rough," Ruby sighed.

Emma looked over her shoulder, just about seeing the mayor before she disappeared from view and then she unintentionally shot Henry narrowed eyes before looking back to her friend.

"Too early for vodka?"

"Yes," Ruby said with a small laugh.

The blonde pouted but she just received another laugh.

"You can drown your sorrows at a socially acceptable time, Swan, we don't want you turning into Leroy."

Emma just rolled her eyes and allowed her head to drop back into her arms, not even looking at the pained looks of the three people watching the interaction from the booth.

S

-The next day-

A knock sounded out through Regina's office and she looked away from the report that she was pretending to read.

Honestly, there was only one thing, or more specifically, one person that had been occupying her mind and it didn't leave much room for her mayoral duties. She had considered taking time off work, but she knew that sitting at home would just make everything worse, practically everything reminded her of Emma, not least, the hoodie that she had taken to wearing to bed.

"Come in," she sighed, noticing once again that whoever it was had come during her assistant's lunch hour.

Henry walked in and for a moment Regina considered whether she would ever get two visits in the space of a week again, but she just shook her head and waited for whatever she could possibly have done wrong now.

The brunette looked at her expectant look and felt a brief flash of guilt knowing that she was expecting him to say something bad, not that he could deny his intentions at this point.

"You broke Emma," he finally said,

Regina sighed and ran a hand across her face, "you can't have it both ways, Henry, either you want us together or you don't."

"She can be happy without you," he argued.

"I have no doubt," the brunette mumbled, "but she just needs time to adjust to being single again."

"You two were only together for three months," Henry shot back, "it shouldn't hurt her this much, unless…"

Regina raised her eyebrows, thinking that maybe he was mentally comparing their relationship to that of Snow and Charming's. As much as she found that though repulsive, she knew that it was the only terms that could make him understand, but after a moment, he seemed to decide that it was impossible and moved on.

"She thinks that she loves you and its stopping her from meeting her True Love."

The mayor let out a resigned sigh and shook her head, "I don't understand what else you could possibly ask of me, Henry. I ended our relationship and I have said precisely three words to her in the past week."

"That's more than she's said to me!" Henry cried.

The brunette narrowed her eyes and said, "what?"

"She's staying with Ruby and Belle and she won't talk to me or Snow and David, I think she hates me!"

The former Evil Queen ran her hands across her face and muttered, "idiot," before she looked back to her son and said, "I still don't understand what it is that you want me to do, Henry."

"It would be easier for everyone if she just forgot about you!"

Regina closed her eyes as his words hit her, though the statement was similar to Snow's, the impact was that much more painful when it came from the boy she had spent ten years of her life raising.

Swallowing hard, she nodded, "perhaps you're right."

Henry furrowed his brow, he had expected some kind of argument, but his mother was a shadow of the resilient woman he knew her to be. Honestly, she just looked utterly defeated.

"Emma is defensive and finds emotions difficult, she doesn't hate you, she just needs time," Regina sighed.

"How can you possibly know that?" Henry asked with narrowed eyes.

"We talked about that type of thing…" Regina replied uncomfortably, "now I believe that you should be going back to school…"

Regina watched Henry's stunned expression, he was clearly beginning to consider that their relationship was actually deep and meaningful, but he just shook his head and turned on his heels.

"You were no help as usual," he snapped over his shoulder before he stormed out of the room.

Regina clenched her hands and felt like shouting in frustration, but instead, the mirror on the over side of the room smashed to pieces and she just rolled her eyes and placed her head in her arms on her desk, trying to hold back another round of tears.

S

-The next day-

"Don't you have a job?" Ruby laughed.

"I took time off," Emma mumbled.

"And you decided to spend all of it at this counter?"

"Belle said that I'm not allowed to mop on your couch," the blonde replied.

"So you come to my work?" the waitress asked while shaking her head.

"The library would just depress me more."

Ruby rolled her eyes and said, "you are a ridiculous human being, Emma."

Emma nodded her agreement and then she felt eyes burning into her back and just sighed, shooting a quick glance at Mary Margaret and Henry.

"How long is this going to go on for?" Ruby asked with a tilted head of concern.

"Until I don't love Regina anymore," the blonde shot back.

"That's cruel."

"So is asking your parents to break up, but Henry did it anyway."

The bell rang out and Emma turned again to see Regina, placing her head in her hands, the blonde watched as she walked up to the counter.

Ruby was about to ask if she wanted coffee, but the mayor just held up her hand and looked at her ex-girlfriend, "I need to talk to you."

Emma's eyes widened and she suddenly sat up straighter, a small optimistic smile spreading across her face, as she ignored the cautious looks from her mother and son across the diner.

"Really?" she asked.

Regina almost melted at the happy look, but she just took a deep breath and tried to keep her composure.

"Stop being stupid."

Emma opened her mouth to protest, but Regina held up her hand and continued, "Henry wishes for you to be his mother and I have made peace with that. But that is predicated on the fact that you actually live in the same place as him and act as his mother. You need to get over our relationship, it's over, but you will always be Henry's mother no matter what, so go over to that booth and talk to him."

The blonde's mouth fell open and she looked quickly at the look of shot that the two brunette's in the booth were wearing and she figured that she hadn't imagined it.

"I can't just get over it, Regina," she argued, trying to ignore the looks that their conversation was attracting from every other person in the diner. "I love you."

"I…know…but you also love Henry and he is under the impression that you hate him. If you really love me, then you will make his happiness your priority," Regina replied as evenly as possible.

Emma looked over at Henry who seemed to be looking for a sign that his assumption was correct and her shoulders slumped in defeat.

The blonde just sighed and nodded and Regina there for a moment, before she turned on her heels and walked out of the diner.

Grabbing her coffee, she sluggishly walked over to the booth and dropped into the seat next to Henry.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, though she was not quite sure why she has to be the one to apologise.

Henry and Snow exchanged a look, before the boy looked longingly over at the door.

Snow blinked a couple of times, she hadn't considered that there was one person who could so easily convince Emma to return to her family.

Inspecting her daughter for a moment, she could tell that this was a tentative truce and she couldn't imagine that things would be anything like they were before, but it would have to be good enough for now.

S

-One week later-

Emma pushed the scrambled eggs across her plate, every so often, she felt the other three people's attempts at covert glances burn into her, but she didn't bother to even look up.

No matter how much she tried, she couldn't just pretend that everything was fine.

She couldn't pretend that she was happy without the woman she loved and she couldn't pretend that it wasn't Henry's fault. But she could sit in silence to stop herself from yelling at him.

"I got an A in English," Henry announced after the silence became too oppressive.

"That's great," the blonde said without looking up, still failing to actually place any food in her mouth.

The little brunette's shoulders slumped and he looked to his grandparents for help, but they seemed just as lost as to what to say as he was.

Finally, the saviour's son decided that he'd had enough, "what did she do to you?"

Dropping the fork on the plate, Emma looked up at him with narrowed eyes and clenched her jaw to prevent the onslaught of swear words that were rushing through her mind.

"Nothing," she said as slowly and evenly as possible.

"Then why are you acting like this?" he cried, "you were supposed to bring back the happy endings, but you're just acting miserable."

Slamming her hands on the table, she rose to her feet and finally snapped, "I'm acting miserable because I'm fucking miserable."

"Emma!" Snow admonished, but the blonde just held her hand up to shut her up.

"I was finally happy for once in my life, but you thought that you had the right to decide who would be good enough for me. Why do you get to decide who I get to love?"

Henry swallowed hard, desperately trying to keep the tears from falling, "she's the Evil Queen…"

"What is your point?!" the blonde shouted.

"Villains don't get happy endings," the little brunette replied weakly.

"If she doesn't get her happy ending, then neither do I!"

Henry was finally stunned to silence and he tried looking at his grandparents, but they seemed just as shocked as he was. This was the most they had heard their daughter talk in just over two weeks and neither of them were very prepared for her words.

"All of you claim to be heroes and yet you can't even give Regina one more chance!"

"We gave her so many chances, Emma," Snow argued.

"No, you gave the Evil Queen those chances, but what about the woman who saved you from the horse. A horse, by the way, that Cora arranged to endanger your life so that Regina would save you and Leopold would want to marry her! Every shitty thing that happened to her was because her mother was obsessed with her becoming queen, including Daniel," she finished, staring straight at her mother. "You wanted a mother so badly that you got Regina's first love killed in front of her, don't you think that it makes sense that you gave her another chance at love."

"That's a twisted way of looking at it!" Snow shouted, shooting out of her seat, "I'll admit that telling Cora about Daniel was a huge mistake, but I was ten! That doesn't mean that she gets to take my daughter away from me!"

"No one said anything about taking me away from you," Emma cried, "if you had just accepted our relationship, everyone could have been happy."

"Regina is the Evil Queen and she deserves all the misery in the world!" Snow shouted and her eyes widened when she realised the words that had come out of her mouth. She shot a quick look at Henry, whose mouth had fallen open in shock and then to David whose eyes had just widened. Finally, she looked up at Emma whose expression held nothing but anger.

She was about to hold up her hands and admit that she crossed her line, but before she could do so, she felt a sharp slap across the side of her face.

She fell into her chair clutching her cheek and watched with widened eyes as Emma stormed off towards the door.

S

Regina pulled her mug of coffee closer to her body and sighed as she heard the rain pounding against the window outside.

She considered just poofing to work, but even if Henry had no intention of forgiving her, she still had a promise to keep, so she just finished her beverage and was about to go off in search of an umbrella when she heard a sharp knock at the front door.

With a sigh, she wondered what else her son could possibly have to yell at her about, especially this early in the morning.

Yanking the door open, her eyebrows shot up when she saw the soaking wet blonde, clearly having forgone her coat.

Letting down her façade, she pulled the saviour into the warmth of her house and inspected her closely.

"Emma, what happened?" she asked, while beginning to walk towards her study, with the shivering Emma following close behind her.

Sitting down on the couch, the blonde allowed Regina to pull a blanket around her.

Looking down at the floor, she just shook her head, "I can't do this anymore, Regina."

The brunette's shoulders slumped and she fell into the seat next to her, and deciding that this couldn't be seen as evil, she waved her hand and the saviour's wet clothes were replaced by her most comfortable workout clothes.

Pushing the blanket off herself, Emma looked at Regina through blurry eyes, almost begging her to stop her misery.

"Emma…" Regina began weakly, but she was cut off when the sheriff launched forward and capture her lips in her own.

After a second, she fell back against the arm of the couch with the blonde following her, and she began to move her lips against Emma's as she brought her hands up to rest on her hips.

Regina found that she was sick of controlling herself and slid her tongue across her ex's bottom lip, she was instantly given access and their tongues began fighting for dominance.

This went on for a good five minutes, but as soon oxygen became an issues and they broke apart, Emma switched to the olive skin of Regina's neck and she moaned deeply at the touch she had been craving.

Closing her eyes in pleasure, she suddenly remembered the crushing loneliness of the past couple weeks and she knew that it would only make the rest of her life that much more difficult if she allowed this to go any further.

Bringing her hands up, she lightly pushed the saviour back into a sitting position and shook her head, "we can't do this, Emma."

"We can," the blonde argued, a fresh round of tears falling down her cheeks, "you just won't."

"I have to do what Henry asked me to…" she sighed, not resisting as the taller woman brought her closer, she figured that a hug wasn't crossing any major line.

"I know…but what about me?" Emma asked, her voice cracking.

"You can find someone else."

Closing her eyes in frustration, the saviour asked, "why do people keep saying that? They keep saying that I deserve better, that I can find someone else, but to me you're the only perfect person in this town."

Regina smiled weakly and replied, "I'm afraid you're the only person who believes that, dear."

Emma nodded and nuzzled herself into Regina's neck, allowing the scent of apples to invade her senses, she somehow knew that this was it for them. She knew that Regina would never allow her to choose her over her parents, she would never be able to deal with the guilt of once again being the reason that the blonde was an orphan. Plus, they had Henry to think about, as long as he refused to acknowledge Regina as his mother, Emma had to step up and fill the role for her, she was certainly the only person that the mayor trusted to do so.

"They just don't know enough about you," Emma sighed, "you're compassionate, beautiful, incredibly smart and you'll give up everything for the people you love. Why can't they see that?"

"You may see those qualities, but you don't understand what I did in the past. I truly don't deserve you Emma, no matter how vehemently you disagree, you can't deny that the Evil Queen and the saviour living happily ever after is not the correct ending to this story."

Pulling herself away from the brunette, Emma inspected the vulnerable look on her face and she wished that there was some way that she could undo all of the damage done to her. She wished that there was some way that she could erase everything Cora did to her, erase what her grandfather did to her, every single little thought that led to her becoming the Evil Queen, but she knew she couldn't. All would ever be able to do was to love her despite of the past, to love her for the woman she had become, but she wasn't allowed to do that because of a stubborn ten-year-old.

"I can't pretend that everything is okay, Regina. I could go out with someone else, but I will never be able to pretend that I love them as much as I love you…"

"Would you be able to try, for me?" the brunette asked weakly.

"We could…pretend to be broken up…" Emma said hopefully.

The mayor reached across and wiped a tear away from her love's cheek, "I can't lie to Henry again and I would never be happy if I had to hide the way I feel for you."

"Which is?" the blonde prompted, though she was sure that Regina felt the same way, the brunette had yet to say the words out loud, and she wanted nothing more than to have verbal confirmation.

Regina thought about her response for a moment and decided that there was only one way that the woman she loved could get the happiness she deserved.

"I…love you, Emma, which is why I have to do this."

Emma furrowed her brow and watched as Regina waved her hand, a small roll of parchment appearing in her hand a split second later.

She narrowed her eyes at it and said, "what is that, Regina?"

"Henry and Snow made a very good point," she sighed, standing from the couch, knowing she would change her mind if the saviour touched her.

"What?" the blonde asked in a small voice.

Swallowing hard, the mayor looked down at the spell and said, "they pointed out that it would be easier if you forgot about me, everyone would get what they want…"

Emma stood slowly and shook her head, "I wouldn't get what I want, I just wouldn't remember why I'm miserable."

"Something that would be easier to move past then your current heartbreak…"

"But what about you?" Emma almost pleaded as she tried to reach forward to grab the parchment, but she felt magic envelope her body, rendering her unable to move.

"The spell wouldn't work if I was to forget," she sighed, "in order for the whole town to believe that Henry has always been your son and that we never had any form of relationship, I must give up you and Henry. The price of the curse will be watching you both be happy without me, but it will be worth it…"

"Regina, please," the blonde full on begged, desperately trying to move, but finding that her magical binds were far too strong.

"I love you, Emma Swan and I always will, but this is the only way that you will find the person who deserves to be with the saviour…"

Before her love could protest further, she whispered the rather simple incantation and a purple energy shot out from her, covering the whole town.

Emma closed her eyes, a few final tears falling before every memory from the past ten years was replaced.

Opening her eyes, she furrowed her brow and looked up at the mayor, her expression one of pure confusion.

"Regina…" she said slowly, looking around the study that she could never remember seeing before. She could remember having one or two conversations with the supposed Evil Queen, but none of them warranted her access to the woman's home.

The brunette felt a stab of pain as she saw the look of affection she had grown used to getting from the blonde was gone, but she just about managed to school her features, having magically erased the tears from both of their faces before the saviour could notice, she took on her Mayor Mills façade.

"Do try to not go out in the rain without a coat, Miss Swan, I may not be as willing to give you access to my home next time."

Emma looked down at her clothes and she furrowed her brow as she remembered putting on a different outfit that morning.

"How…"

"Maine winters are rather bitter, you're lucky that a brief blackout was all you received, now would you please leave my home?" she asked.

Emma furrowed her brow in concentration and thought about this before she just nodded and allowed herself to be taken to the door.

Regina waved her hand and the red leather jacket she loved so much appeared in her hand and she handed it to the confused saviour, "wouldn't want you coming back."

The blonde just nodded and took it, "er…thanks," she said, and after a moment she seemed to decide that there was nothing more to say. Opening the door, she shot a quick look over her shoulder at the brunette, before she made her way down the steps.

Regina watched the retreating saviour for a moment, before she closed the door and turned so her back was to it.

Letting out a ragged breath, she fell to the floor, and placing her arms on her knees, she began to sob uncontrollably.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

[Flashback]

"You're being ridiculous," Emma assured as she lightly stroked her girlfriend's hair.

Regina rolled her eyes and flipped herself over so that she was facing the other woman, "what if Henry doesn't approve? Wouldn't it be easier if we just didn't tell him?"

"You said that you never wanted to lie to him again," the blonde said softly with a smirk.

"Technically, he has never asked us if we're together, so it's not really lying if we didn't tell him."

"It's so cute when you go all politician," Emma smirked and quickly leaned in for a quick peck and ask expected, it seemed to instantly relax the other woman.

"What if he doesn't approve?" Regina sighed after a moment.

"Then he'll just have to live with it, he's ten-years-old, Regina, he doesn't get to dictate what we do with our love lives."

"You know for a fact that isn't true."

Emma took a deep breath and nodded, bringing the smaller woman closer to her body, she nuzzled into her neck, "if he doesn't approve, then we'll just give him time to adjust…"

"And if time isn't enough?"

"Have you always been a pessimist?" the blonde asked with a tilted head.

"Not always," Regina frowned.

Emma smiled and placed a light kiss on her girlfriend's forehead, "we have been together for two months and all I want to do is to be able to hold your hand in public. I don't want you to think that you're some kind of dirty little secret, because you know that I would shout it from the rooftops if I could, I mean, I'm dating Regina freaking Mills."

The brunette finally smiled and the saviour mirrored with a triumphant smile, "how do you always know exactly what to say? It certainly isn't genetic."

Emma let out a bark of laughter and replied, "they're not that bad…"

"When it comes to anything but a hope speech, they are generally inept."

"Now you're just stalling, madam mayor, I'm supposed to be meeting Henry at the diner in ten minutes…"

"Just Henry?" the brunette asked after a moment.

"Mary Margaret promised to drop him off and Ruby said she'd watch him until I showed up. I will tell my parents straight after, but I think we should probably tackle this one person at a time," the saviour chuckled.

Regina bit her lip and sat up, "I look forward to finding out how it goes…"

Emma rolled her eyes and pulled the blanket off both of them, "nice try, Mills, you're coming with me, it will be fine."

Regina sighed and nodded, pushing herself out of the bed.

-Twenty minutes later-

"No!" Henry shouted.

Emma's mouth fell open and she looked over to the not at all surprised person sitting in the booth next to her. Despite her expectations having been met, however, Regina still looked like she was in real physical pain from yet another rejection from her son.

"This isn't a yes or no question, Henry," the blonde shot back, "we're just telling you what is going on, but that doesn't mean that you have a choice in this."

"But…she's evil, she can't be the person that you end up with."

The saviour shot another sympathetic look at her girlfriend and then turned back to Henry, "first of all, 'she' is your mother, show her some respect. Second of all, your mother and me will be together for as long as we both want to be and you can't change that. Either you get used to it or get over it, but those are the only two options."

Henry looked between them with a slightly open mouth, and after a moment, he bolted out of the booth, running to towards the door.

His path was soon blocked, however, as the door opened to reveal the deputy sheriff coming in for his morning coffee.

The brunette boy took a moment to look at his grandfather, before he crashed into him with a hug.

Charming looked over at the booth that Henry must have just come from and his eyebrows shot up when he saw his daughter and mortal enemy sitting on the same side with their fingers intertwined.

"Can you take me home?" Henry mumbled against his stomach.

The blond opened his mouth to make a comment, but as he looked over at Emma's pained expression and the implications of the situation ran through his mind, he found that there was just nothing he could say.

So he turned Henry around by the shoulder and exited the diner.

-Present day-

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" Snow asked as she watched her thoroughly confused daughter walk into the loft.

"What happened, mom?" Henry asked while putting his backpack on his shoulder.

Emma furrowed her brow, there was no reason why it should be weird for her son to call her that. She had many memories of him referring to her in that way, but somehow it just felt wrong.

Bringing her hand up, she rubbed it against her forehead and shut the door behind her.

"I think I need to lay down…what happened to you?" she asked as she noticed the angry, fully formed bruise on her mother's face.

Snow brought her hand up and winced slightly at the touch, before she just shrugged, "I tripped over…" she said unsurely, after a moment, she just shook her head and started to walk towards the door.

Placing her hand on Emma's forehead, she felt a slight temperature and she smiled slightly in sympathy, "you're burning up, I can take the day off if you want."

"I'm a grown woman, Mary Margaret," the blonde laughed, "I wouldn't want to deprive the kids of their lesson."

"If you're sure…" Snow sighed, desperately wishing that she could look after her child. "Call me or David if you need anything, I'll be back straight after school…"

"Just go," Emma laughed.

The brunette sighed and nodded.

Henry launched forward and hugged her, "get better, mom."

Emma brought her arm around him and thought for a second as she felt a pang of unexplained anger, but she pushed past it and just squeezed his small frame.

"Go to school kid, I just should have worn a coat," she chuckled.

Mary Margaret and Henry exchanged a look and then nodded.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Emma stumbled over to the couch and fell onto it, placing her forearms over her eyes.

The first image that rushed through her head was that of Regina and just sighed.

She could feel that there was something just there that she should know, almost as if their relationship went far beyond the few indifferent interactions she could remember.

She didn't like the feeling of questioning her own memories, but Gold being the one to cast the sleeping curse on Henry didn't make any sense and yet her mind was telling her that it was exactly what happened.

With a sigh, she just turned on her side and pulled the blanket from the back of the couch over her body, and swaddled herself.

Within seconds she allowed sleep to take her, though a picture of the mayor was still firmly painted in her mind.

-One month later-

"What's up kid?" Emma asked with a furrowed brow as she turned to follow his line of sight to the counter.

She tilted her head and watched as the mayor ordered her coffee and then turned back to fix her son with a questioning stare.

"Huh," Henry said as if he had been caught doing something bad. Every time he saw the mayor, he couldn't help the feeling that something was wrong. He knew that no one else seemed to notice, but she always looked so incredibly sad, so lonely. A couple times, he could have sworn that he caught her staring at him and Emma, almost as if she was looking at the things that were missing from her life, but then again, he couldn't remember ever even having a conversation with her, so he was becoming convinced that it was all in his head.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied before he dug his fork into his French fries.

Emma sighed, she really wished that she understood just what it was that was getting her son so down, but for the past month, it just felt like everything was off. Though she was pretty sure that it was nothing considering that they seemed to be the only two affected by whatever it could be, everyone else in town seemed to be happier than ever.

Shooting a quick look at the mayor as her heels clicked against the floor, Emma resisted the urge to sigh.

She couldn't understand why she couldn't just allow things to be good for once in her life. She had parents, her son was healthy and doing well in school, the only supposed villain in town was filling her days with constant paperwork. Honestly, the blonde was sure that it would have taken more to convince Snow and David that they should just allow Regina to finish her term as mayor since she hadn't done anything bad since the curse was cast. The saviour was beginning to wonder just what could have made the woman so bad, she just seemed to be one to melt into the background and do anything to avoid attention from the townspeople.

"You know, Snow has been asking when you're going to start going out with someone," Henry grimaced.

Emma raised her eyebrows at the boy and said, "do you not want me to?"

"Of course I want you to," he sighed, "but who would you want to go out with in this town? I mean, are there even any other gay women?"

The blonde frowned and shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not really looking for a relationship right now, Henry."

"Why not?"

"I…" she began, feeling that the answer was on the tip of her tongue, but she just shook her head and admitted, "I don't know."

They sighed at the same time and was each about to pick up some food when the power went off.

Emma scowled up at the ceiling and counted down from three in her head and as she predicted, her phone began to ring.

"Hello?"

"There's a problem at town line," her father's voice announced.

"What kind of problem?" she grumbled while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"There's like this big ice wall thing…"

Emma blew out a breath and rolled her eyes, "I'll be right there, can you let Regina know what's going on?"

David agreed, he and Snow no longer seemed to have any major issues with Regina now that she basically kept to herself at all times and the truce had only served to make Storybrooke an even more peaceful town.

Hanging up, she motioned for Ruby to come over and said, "there's something going on at town line, could you watch Henry?"

The waitress nodded and Emma hopped out of the booth, hoping that this wouldn't take too long.

Emma looked up at the ice wall and just shook her head, "I don't get what you want me to do…"

"Take it down with magic?" David suggested.

"I'm not exactly a master," she laughed.

David sighed and shrugged, "there must be something we can do."

The blonde nodded and approached the wall of ice, running her hand over it, she noticed a little crack and squinted as she looked through it.

Raising her eyebrows, she saw a blonde woman rocking back and forth, whispering something to herself.

Shooting a quick look at her father, she began running her hand along the rest of it, before she found what looked to be a gap she could fit through. She knew that it was probably a stupid idea, but something about the woman just made her want to help her and there was no way that she would be able to sleep at night if she didn't at least try to go in.

Looking at David, she saw the disapproval on his face, but before he could voice it, she slipped in through the crack, accompanied by a weak call of "Emma" behind her.

The woman heard the crunching of ice and her head shot off her lap and she fixed the intruder with a glare.

Emma suddenly felt the ground around her begin to shake and the ice behind her collapsing on itself, blocking her exit and she fell face first onto the floor.

Wincing, she pulled herself up on to her knees and brought a hand to her forehead, pulling it away, she swallowed hard at the blood covering her fingers.

Clearing her throat, she inspected the tears covering the cheeks of the beautiful woman and asked, "are you okay?"

The blonde furrowed her brow and said in a hoarse voice, "you ask if I'm okay after I caused you harm?"

Emma pulled herself to her feet and balanced herself against a protruding ice spike and shot her a sympathetic look, "I can tell that you didn't mean to do it, I'm Emma Swan by the way."

The woman seemed to think for second, before she said, "E-Elsa…"

Emma furrowed her brow and said, "you don't seem sure."

Elsa bit her lip and shook her head, "no, I'm almost certain that is my name…"

The other blonde pushed herself off the spike and just about managed to walk over to her while she shivered intensely.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Nothing!" she cried, "I can't remember anything, I have no idea what these strange powers are and I don't know how to control them…"

Emma nodded and she attempted to think of something helpful to say, but she felt her eyes begin to drop and she couldn't stop herself from falling to her knees as numbness began to consume her body and her teeth began chattering uncontrollably.

Rushing forward, Elsa placed a hand on Emma's back which only served to make her shiver more and she whipped it away.

"Sorry," she said instantly.

"It's…okay…do you…remember anything…at all?"

"The last thing I remember was waking up in the forest and wandering out onto the strange road. I got incredibly anxious and this structure began to build itself around me."

Emma nodded and resisted the urge to close her eyes, but she was wearing a very thin jacket and was very likely concussed, she assumed that neither was helping the situation.

"You know…I have magic too; I can't control it either…"

Elsa's expression seemed to lighten at the idea of not being the only one and she brought her hand to rest on the other woman's shoulder. She seemed to remember that it hadn't helped last time and she was about to snatch it away, but Emma brought her hand up and caught her wrist.

"It helps," she assured, even if it made her colder, she couldn't help but feel comforted by it.

Elsa furrowed her brow but nodded anyway, "why are you here, Emma Swan?"

"I-I'm the s-sheriff. I got a call about a d-disruption at town line. I should be h-helping, but it looks like I m-made things w-worse," she laughed.

"We need to get out of here," the other blonde said determinedly, though she had only just met her fellow blonde, she felt an instant connection and she knew that she wouldn't get the opportunity to spend more time with her if she were to freeze to death.

"H-how?"

"I have no idea…"

-

Regina sighed as she switched the regenerator on and turned on her heels, already planning a night of reading and wine, when her phone began to ring.

Raising her eyebrow at the name on the screen, she answered sardonically with, "twice in one day, Charming?"

"Emma's trapped in the ice wall and I'm pretty sure she's hurt…"

Regina felt all of her sarcastic comebacks fade away at the thought of the saviour being hurt, but she still had one burning question, "why didn't you call the fairies?"

There was silence on the other end of the line as he considered the question and he finally replied with, "I thought that you would be able to help more…efficiently, I guess."

Regina took a deep breath and allowed the magic she hadn't used in a long time to overcome her as she poofed herself to the town line.

David jumped slightly, before he rolled his eyes and ended the call, "she's going to freeze to death soon, I know that you don't owe her anything…"

The brunette held up her hand and said, "I wouldn't be here if I didn't intend to help, Charming."

He nodded when he realised that she had a point and just crossed his arms as he waited for her to do something.

Regina walked towards the structure and inspected it for a moment, before she placed her hand on its surface and though of melting ice.

It didn't take long for the ice to begin to disappear and as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw a shocked unfamiliar blonde clutching the unconscious saviour close to her body.

The former queen instantly zeroed in on the gash on her love's forehead and felt anger boil in her stomach, she wanted to hurt the woman for doing it, even if she could tell that it was an accident.

She was about to throw some form of fireball, when she felt herself being nudged out of the way by the deputy sheriff.

"Emma!" he shouted as he jumped into the little ice cave.

Elsa jumped to her feet and helped David bring his daughter into his arms, and as carefully as possible, he brought her out on to the road, with Elsa not far behind him.

Regina completely forgot to expect any form of thank you as she looked over her ex-girlfriend. Without thinking, she leaned forward and ran a hand over the gash, which promptly healed.

Charming's mouth fell open as he noticed just how caring the gesture was and he was about to question it before Regina cleared her throat and said, "I can't have the sheriff taking sick days. I have serious doubt in your ability to run that station alone."

David rolled his eyes and completely forgot why he had been shocked and began walking towards the car so that he could warm his little girl up.

Regina scowled at his back and then shot Elsa a dirty look, noting to herself that she should follow up on who the hell she was, before she waved her hand and sent the three of them to the Charming's apartment.

The two conscious blonde's blinked a couple times at the sudden shift in scene and Snow all but jumped off the couch when she saw her significantly paler than normal child.

"What happened?" she asked as she placed her hand on Emma's face and shot Elsa a questioning look.

"I guess Regina saved Emma," David said with a furrowed brow, before he placed his daughter on the couch and proceeded to wrap her in every blanket he could find.

"Okay…" Snow said unsurely as she pulled the space heater over to the couch, and then looking up at the silent blonde, she said, "and you are?"

The princess opened her mouth to answer, but she was suddenly overwhelmed by everything in the room. It all looked completely unfamiliar and she actually genuinely afraid.

"Her name is Elsa," Emma said in a hoarse voice, looking at her parents through heavy eyes.

Snow spun around and fell to her knees so that she was level with Emma's face, "are you okay, sweetheart?"

Emma nodded, though her teeth were still chattering, she could feel warmth spreading through her body, oddly, it was mostly coming from where the cut used to be on her forehead.

"I'm really t-tired though."

Snow smiled at her and said moved a piece of hair away from her face, a gesture that the saviour was too tired to wince away from.

"Can you pick Henry up from the diner?" she asked weakly.

"Of course," Snow smiled.

David looked at his wife and shook his head, "I should probably head back to the station, there are going to be a lot of complaints…"

"Go, Elsa can watch me if that makes you feel better," Emma said sleepily.

The blonde's eyebrows shot up and she was about to protest that they barely knew each other and that she shouldn't trust people so quickly, but it somehow felt good to be so easily trusted. Even if she couldn't remember anything, she had the distinct feeling that trust was not something she was used to getting.

After a second, Elsa nodded her agreement and the Charmings exchanged a cautious look, before they each made their way towards the door.

Elsa fell onto the coffee table and smiled at the sleeping face of the woman she was already so attracted to.

-

Emma blinked her eyes opened and looked up at the blonde sitting on the coffee table, she looked utterly terrified.

Sitting bolt up, she looked around cautiously and then followed Elsa's line of sight to the phone sitting next to her on the table.

Falling back against the couch, she laughed and asked, "what's wrong?"

"It…it made a strange sound," Elsa replied unsurely.

Reaching out for the device, the saviour smirked when she saw the number of missed calls. After noting that she had been asleep for over four hours, she quickly pressed the call back button.

"What's up Mary Margaret?" she asked as soon as the line connected.

"I just wanted to see if you were alright," her mother replied.

"Then why didn't you just come and check on me?"

"We came twice, but the apartment was crowded and Henry said that we should leave you in peace. We can come back now if you want."

Emma shot another look at Elsa and instantly decided the answer, "come back a little later, okay?"

"If you're sure," Snow sighed, she really wished that she could understand what it was that made Emma constantly pull away from her, but the fact was that not even the saviour herself could quite understand the random bursts of anger she felt when she was around her parents.

Hanging up, she offered Elsa a charming half-smile, before she said, "it's a phone…you can use it to talk to people who aren't in the same room."

The other blonde nodded, but still continued to eye it with distrust and Emma couldn't help but notice just how adorable the expression was.

"You know that you didn't have to watch me for four hours?" Emma said after a moment.

Elsa finally gave the other woman something resembling a smile, before she replied, "I was responsible for what happened to you."

"Not really, it's not like you did it on purpose," Emma said as she placed a hand on the other woman's.

"How can you be so forgiving?"

Emma bit her lip and shook her head, "I'm usually not, but there's just…something about you."

Elsa's eyebrows shot up and the other blonde closed her eyes in frustration, real smooth Swan, she thought to herself.

"I…don't remember anything about myself other than my name, these powers seem to be more reckless than helpful and everything in this place terrifies me, what could that thing possibly be?" Elsa laughed after a moment of thought.

"I would probably be less charming if I told you."

The other woman finally smirked, she couldn't stop the eruption of butterflies in her stomach and she suddenly forgot all of her problems. As much as she wanted to know her past, she didn't hate the thought of looking to the future.

"From what I can tell, it would take a lot for you to lose your charm," Elsa laughed.

Smirking, Emma replied, "well, first of all, you're really incredibly beautiful, you're the one person that I've felt comfortable around in a while…"

Before could finish her list, she felt soft lips connect with her own and smiled dopily as the other woman pulled back.

"Aren't we rushing this a bit?" Emma laughed.

Elsa shrugged and replied, "it's not as if I can remember any reason that we should take it slow, besides, this just feels somehow right."

Emma let out a contented sigh and sat up more fully, "speaking of not being able to remember, we should both probably get a check-up."

"Check-up?" the other blonde asked cautiously.

"A doctor will check that we're healthy," she replied softly, but still received another cautious look. "Don't you trust me?"

Elsa relaxed her shoulders and stood from her seat of the last four hours.

"After this, we should probably plan a date," Emma laughed as she began leading the way to the front door.

"What's a date?"

The saviour laughed as she saw the adorable confusion again and began considering how she could possibly explain it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any confusion from the last chapter, I made a mistake when I posted it. This fic is nowhere near finished :)

Chapter four

-One week later-

"Aren't you rushing a bit?" Henry said almost insistently.

"You were complaining that I didn't have a girlfriend and it just feels right with Elsa for some reason," Emma replied.

"But…we don't know anything about her…I mean, she doesn't even know anything about her. How can you be sure that she won't get her memories back and realise that she's married or something?"

"If she was happily married, then why would our relationship feel so right?" the saviour shot back, "I cannot remember the last time that I had this kind of connection with someone, what would be the point in waiting be?"

Henry shrugged and said, "does she remember anything yet?"

"I think that she's more focused on adjusting to Storybrooke."

"Eventually she's going to start wondering about the past," he pointed out.

"I can deal with it, kid," Emma replied with an exasperated sigh.

Henry sighed and nodded, falling back against the booth, he pulled his fries towards himself and began throwing them in his mouth two at a time.

"She's meeting us here, Henry, so you need to start acting more grown up," Emma rolled her eyes.

The bell rang out and the blonde turned expecting her girlfriend, but the sight of the familiar brunette threw her off.

Regina maintained eye contact for a moment, before she made her way over to the counter and signalled for a to-go coffee.

"I'll be right back," the saviour muttered, and she slid out of the booth followed by Henry's questioning gaze.

"Hey," the blonde said awkwardly when she finally approached the counter.

The former Evil Queen resisted the urge to wince and just about managed to maintain her façade as she looked up at the taller woman.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Miss Swan?"

"David told me what you did…I figured that I should thank you for saving my life," Emma replied with a charming smile.

Covertly swallowing hard, the mayor turned to accept her coffee and then looked back at her ex, "I didn't have the energy to find a new deputy and I certainly wouldn't enjoy having to deal with your father being the sheriff."

Emma tilted her head and asked with an amused look, "so you do have the energy to deal with me?"

Again, Regina resisted her desire to roll her eyes and chuckle at the woman and instead said, "against all odds, you're not quite as insufferable as your parents."

"Thanks…I think…"

Regina nodded awkwardly.

Emma thought about saying something else, mainly because she wanted to continue talking to the mayor for some reason she couldn't quite identify, but she was interrupted by the ringing of the bell.

Turning around, she smiled broadly at the blonde woman who walked straight over to her.

Gold had supplied the princess with a black band to suppress her magic, so now the woman's only worry was getting a job and finding her own wardrobe.

As soon as Emma turned her back to her, Regina openly scowled at Elsa, especially since she was wearing the red leather jackets that the saviour had allowed her to wear on many of their dates.

Elsa finally came up beside her fellow blonde and smiled at the woman that she recognised from the town line.

"Hello," she said brightly, clearly not noticing Regina's hostility.

Emma looked between them and felt an indescribable twist in her stomach, but she pushed past it and said, "Elsa, this is Mayor Regina Mills."

"Pleasure," Regina mumbled, "I really must go, Miss Swan."

Before either blonde could protest, the mayor rushed towards the door, though the saviour still noticed just how regal she looked.

Shaking her head, she turned back to Elsa leaned in to capture her lips in a sweet 'hello' kiss.

Elsa smiled back, before she furrowed her brow as she thought about Emma's expression as she talked to the mayor, "are you friends with Regina?"

Emma tilted her head and frowned, "no…she's my boss. I think we've had like two conversations since I came here."

"Okay…"

They stood in silence for a moment, before Emma took up Elsa's hand and brought her back over to the booth.

-Six months later-

"Mom!" Henry shouted, "I need help!"

When he got no reply, he rolled his eyes and ran up the stairs to her room.

Despite Snow's many protestations, Emma had decided a month ago, that she wanted to live with her son and her girlfriend. It was nice to have his own space, but no matter how much he tried, it didn't feel like home, for the past seven months, it had just felt as if something had been missing. Not that Emma seemed to notice since she was so caught up in her relationship.

Knocking at the door, he got no reply again and just swung it open.

He let out a deep sigh as he was met with his mother and Elsa cuddled up in the bed, he was well aware that the ridiculous number of blankets were for Emma, because she was too stubborn to not cuddle with her overly cold girlfriend.

Stomping over to the window, he dramatically opened the curtains and his mother promptly groaned as the light rays invaded her consciousness.

Cracking one eye open, she wondered if she was still dreaming for a moment, before she nudged Elsa and they each began to slowly sit up.

"Why are you wearing a suit?" she asked blearily.

Henry rolled his eyes again and said, "my internship at Town Hall starts today and I need you to show me how to do this stupid tie."

Nodding, Emma pushed herself off the bed and made her way over to the already lanky boy, "you're eleven, I still don't understand why you have to even do this internship."

"I want to go to Harvard, I have to start now if I want to get in," he replied and began to watch as she did his tie.

Emma stood back and swept some lint off his shoulder before she smiled broadly at how adorable he looked, though she decided that he wouldn't appreciate it if she voiced her opinion. Instead, she shot a quick smile at Elsa to confirm that she wasn't the only one that thought so and she received a smile that mirrored her own.

"How did you get an internship with the mayor?" Elsa asked as she stretched and made her way over to the pair.

Henry thought about it for a second, before he shrugged, "well I was offered one in a different department, but I mentioned that it would look better on my resume if I got one in a higher office. I got a call offering me a position with Mayor Mills like five minutes later."

"That's weird…" Emma said, desperately trying to think of the reason why it didn't feel all that unbelievable.

As she did whenever she'd had a strange feeling in the past, she just pushed past it, "come on, I'll make you breakfast before your first day at work."

Henry re-read a paragraph of the report that Regina had shown to him, but as he did so, he continued to shoot covert glances over the top of the paper to the mayor who was trying to focus on her laptop.

The day had consisted of: a tour around the building, a quick breakdown of how the institution was structured and a brief talk on what the mayor did. Regina was now showing him some of the more intricate workings of her office, but it wasn't any of that which had him looking at her curiously.

It was the fact that she was unable to hide a smile as soon as she had seen him in his suit, or the cringe when he called her 'mayor Mills', there was definitely something going on, and he was determined to find out what it was.

"Is something wrong, Henry?" she asked without looking away from her computer screen.

The younger brunette cringed and shook his head, placing the paper on the desk, he said, "I'm done…"

Regina smiled slightly and looked up at him, "perhaps you would like to go and get some lunch?"

Henry nodded eagerly and stood from his seat, but furrowed his brow when he noticed Regina continued to type, "aren't you coming?"

The mayor blinked a couple of times and replied, "I assumed that you would wish to go to the break room…"

"You can go to the break room," he laughed.

"There aren't many that would appreciate their boss having lunch with them."

Henry bit his lip and asked a question that had been on his mind for a while, "is it because they think you're still the Evil Queen?"

Regina winced slightly, but nodded, "I have been allowed to keep my position as mayor, but my past…indiscretions make socialisation with others in town quite impossible."

"But…you haven't done anything bad in like…thirty years, right?"

The former queen noted that the curse seemed to have worked perfectly. Everyone in town were very aware of who she was before the curse, but they had no idea of all of the morally dubious she had done in the years that followed. To them, she had been allowed a kind of probation, which involved remaining mayor and being completely alone.

"I deserve it," she replied after a moment.

Henry let out a little sigh, before an idea occurred to him, "how about going to Granny's for lunch?"

The older brunette blinked a few times, she was sure that this was some kind of dream and yet she was also very aware that it was reality. It seemed that without his memories, her son was far more prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"I…don't see why not," she replied after a moment of deliberation.

-One week later-

Regina blew out a breath and considered why she allowed the Charmings to run the sheriff's station. She was sure that she could easily fire the two blonde's and find a sheriff and deputy who would actually do their paperwork on time.

Though she once relished the opportunity to come and harass Emma for a file that was even a minute late, she hadn't done it in over half a year. The mayor had fallen behind on many of her own deadlines because she couldn't bring herself to go to the station to get the file as she would have done before. She even waited five days once so that she could go when she knew it would be David on duty.

Her heels clicked against the floor as she turned the corner, expecting to see a certain prince lounging in his desk chair.

Her steps faltered, however, at the sight she was met with.

She just about managed to not let out a little, very un-Regina-like, squeak as her eyes fell upon two blonde women making out.

Elsa was sat on Emma's lap and they both seemed to be completely deaf to the rest of the world as their tongues explored each other's mouths.

Elsa brought up her hand to pull the other woman closer by the neck and Emma let out a very distinguishable moan.

Regina was about to turn on her heels and leave as quietly as possible, when she heard the sound of footsteps coming around the corner.

Trainers scuffed against the ground as Henry yawned heavily, he shot Regina a questioning look, before he turned his attention on the station and the colour drained from his face.

"Mom!"

Elsa hopped off her girlfriend accompanied by a surprised squeak, and Emma turned with widened eyes to look at the two brunettes standing near the door. Her eyes past over Henry and when they fell on Regina, she somehow felt as if she had been something completely dirty. Granted, making out at work wasn't the most professional thing in the world, but Elsa was still her live-in girlfriend.

"What…what are you doing here?" was all she could think to say and after a moment she looked back over to her son.

"You promised to help with my science project…"

The blonde tilted her head and said, "I assumed that was off when I switched shifts with David."

"Well it doesn't look like you was doing any actual police work," he shot back.

Emma bit her lip and looked over at the bright red princess and tried to hold back her laughter at the utter look of horror she was wearing.

Elsa narrowed her eyes at the other woman's look of amusement and said, "this isn't funny, Swan."

Emma burst out into laughter which only got harder as the other blonde quickly crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at her.

Henry watched the scene for a moment, before he shot a quick look at Regina.

His eyebrows shot up at the look of hurt that was consuming her face, she was clearly assuming that no one was looking at her in this moment as every crack in her façade seemed to become huge fissures. The little brunette could see clear jealousy etched into her features and he began to form some theories.

"Mom," he said with an exasperated sigh, motioning towards the mayor.

Emma straightened up and her eyes widened as she finally realised that her boss had seen the entire scene, "Regina…"

As soon as the blonde looked at her, the former Evil Queen just about managed to school her features and held up her hand, "your father promised me a file yesterday and I thought that it would be simpler for everyone if I collected it."

The saviour frowned as she considered the number of late files Regina had never collected from her, but she pushed it aside and pulled a folder towards herself.

"That's what I was doing before I got…distracted," she sighed as she opened it and inspected the number of pages she had yet to fill out.

The mayor pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

"Bring it to my office by tomorrow, sheriff."

"I could have it done in an hour," the blonde argued.

Regina looked over at Henry and sighed, "I believe you have a promise to keep, Miss Swan."

Henry looked between them and shook his head, "mom clearly has a lot of work to catch up on…"

"But you should start your project soon," Elsa pointed out.

"Maybe Elsa can help you," Emma suggested hopefully, she had been trying to get them to bond since their relationship started, but lately it seemed like Henry was more interested in his internship with the mayor.

"Do you know what entropy is?" Henry asked with raised eyebrows.

Elsa shot a look at Emma who returned with a sympathetic look and said, "I could learn what it is."

"It would be better if someone helped me instead of me trying to teach them…"

"Henry!" Emma scolded.

Regina looked at the downturned expression on the princess's face and suddenly, she had all the sympathy in the world for her. She knew what this situation felt like and she also knew that she would usually give anything for it to end.

"I could help him," she blurted out.

Emma's eyebrows shot up and she looked at the mayor cautiously, "you really don't have to do that, Regina."

"It would appear that I have some spare time on my hands, I don't see why I can't return the favour for all of his hard work."

Regina watched as the tension fell away from Elsa's shoulders, clearly she wasn't too confident in learning scientific principles just so she could spend time with a reluctant pre-teen. Even if the blonde had just been groping the love of her life, she knew that anything that made Elsa's life easier would make Emma happy, so she did it anyway.

Elsa nodded with a grateful smile and then said, "I should leave you to your work."

Emma was about to protest, but the princess leaned down for a quick peck and said, "I'll see you later, love you."

The blonde sighed when her girlfriend was halfway across the room and turned back to the work her father had failed to finish.

"I love you too, babe."

Henry observed Regina's very slight wince and he had to resist the urge to smirk at how obviously jealous she was.

"I'll have this done as soon as possible," the saviour assured as she began furiously scribbling, her pen stilled and she looked up with her charming grin, "and thanks again."

Regina bit the inside of her cheek as she resisted the urge to melt at the woman's smile and she simply nodded, "it's not a problem, Emma."

The brunette turned on her heels and Henry followed closely behind. Neither of them noticed the blonde at the desk furrowing her brow as she realised that the mayor had actually called her by her first name.


End file.
